William Sterling Hodges Junior, usually known as ’Billy’ was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, on the 25th May 1907, the son of William Sterling and Sara E. Hodges (née Griesemer). In 1915, the family home was at 2926, Lehigh Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his father was employed by The Baldwin Locomotive Works.
His father’s business took him all over the world and in 1915, he was promoted to take charge of company’s business in France. Consequently, despite the war in Europe, he decided to take his family, to whom he was devoted, to Paris with him and accordingly booked saloon passage for them all on the Lusitania’s May sailing to England, on the first part of their journey.
Having left Philadelphia at the end of April they all arrived at the Cunard Berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915 and with ticket number 14677, they boarded the liner. Once on board, they were escorted to their accommodation - Billy Hodges and his brother to room A18, and his parents next door to room A16. Both these rooms were in the charge of First Class Bedroom Steward John Perry who came from Seaforth on the outskirts of Liverpool.
The liner’s morning departure was delayed until the early afternoon, as she had to embark passengers, cargo and some crew from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work. Just six days later the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk, by the German submarine U-20, when she was just within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
All four members of the family perished as a result and one report states that as the ship was sinking, Sara Hodges was heard to say: -
If we go down, we’ll all go down together!
So maybe all four of them were together as the ship went down. Only the bodies of Billy Hodges and his mother were ever recovered from the sea and identified, however. Those of his father and brother remain missing to this day. Billy Hodges was aged eight years.
Once his body had been taken from the sea it was landed at Queenstown where it was given the reference number 220 in one of the temporary mortuaries there. Once it had been positively identified, however, it was embalmed and despatched on 26th May 1915 to New York on the S.S. Philadelphia, which was, by coincidence, an apt choice of vessel! Once it arrived in New York, it was sent to The Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia who were able to arrange its burial in Philadelphia on the 8th June.
Bedroom Steward Perry, who had looked after William Hodges Junior and his brother, in room A18 also perished in the sinking and never saw his Seaforth home again.
Pennsylvania Births Certificates 1906 – 1911, Philadelphia Pennsylvania Death Certificates Index 1803 – 1915, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Cunard Records, Philadelphia Public Ledger, PRO BT 100/345, Tragedy of the Lusitania, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Stuart Williamson, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.